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Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. speaks at the final plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday, May 31.
Photo courtesy of the International Institute for Strategic Studies
(1st UPDATE) The complainants claim that the details of the Philippine defense chief's citizenship are 'not yet clear up to this time'
MANILA, Philippines – Four people have filed a complaint before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office, seeking an investigation into Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.’s past Maltese citizenship.
The four want the prosecutor’s office to check if Defense Secretary GIlberto Teodoro Jr.’s paperwork and records were in order in acquiring and then renouncing his Maltese citizenship, reacquiring his Filipino citizenship, and eventually running for office and being appointed the country’s top defense official.
“Up to now, what we heard was from news articles [and] we have not really verified the records, so it’s not yet clear up to this time if [Secretary Teodoro] indeed renounced his Maltese citizenship…and if his alleged renunciation was accepted by the Republic of Malta,” said Dan Villanueva, the lawyer who is handling the petition on behalf of Miraflor and the other complainants.
Villanueva, in an interview with Rappler, said the complaint hopes to address “lingering questions” over the circumstances surrounding Teodoro’s reported reacquisition of his Filipino citizenship, among others.
The petition was filed by Russel Miraflor, Antonio Balondo, Ernie Arimala, and Jerry Honrado on Thursday, June 18. Miraflor, the sole lawyer in the group of petitioners, was last in the news as legal counsel of several alleged bagmen of former lawmaker Arnie Teves. Miraflor’s clients were, like Teves, designated as terrorists by the Anti-Terrorism Council.
In their joint complaint-affidavit, the four are asking various government agencies to provide verified documents and to begin a “case build-up and preliminary investigation into possible violations involving alleged false declarations in a Philippine passport application, falsification of public or official documents, and perjury should certified government records support such findings.”
In a separate petition emailed and delivered to the Office of the Solicitor General on the same day, the same group asked the Office of the Solicitor General to “determine whether official records justify the filing of a quo warranto petition in the name of the Republic questioning Teodoro’s legal qualification to serve as Secretary of National Defense.” Villanueva said they will file the petition in person on Friday, June 19.
In a statement, Defense Assistant Secretary Erik Dy criticized the complaint, saying that it “appears to be built on unverified allegations and attempts to shift the burden of proof to the State by requesting the Office of the Pasay City Prosecutor and other government agencies to establish the very facts the complainants themselves failed to prove.”
“That is not how the justice system works,” he said in a statement.
He added: “The burden of proof rests on those who make the accusation. A complaint for perjury requires competent evidence, not speculation, assumptions, or a fishing expedition in search of proof. Until credible and verified evidence is presented, these claims remain nothing but unproven accusations.”
In July 2025, Teodoro confirmed that he once had a Maltese passport and had Maltese citizenship which he then renounced before filing his candidacy for senator in October 2021. In a statement then, Teodoro said the existence of a Maltese passport was disclosed to both the Bureau of Immigration and Commission on Elections, as well as the Committee on Appointments when he was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as defense chief in 2023.
In their complaint, Miraflor and his co-complainants alleged that Teodoro held a Maltese passport that was “reportedly valid from December 22, 2016 until December 22, 2026.” They said Teodoro then “applied for or renewed a Philippine passport in March 2017” or while the Maltese passport was still valid.
Both Philippine and Maltese nationals are allowed to be dual citizens. In Malta, multiple citizenship is “the rule rather than the exception,” according to Komunita Malta, which is “responsible for administering all Maltese citizenship-related matters.” Its official website states: “As of 10th February 2000, a citizen of Malta could acquire and retain a foreign citizenship/s along with his/her Maltese citizenship” — which means a person would not need to renounce any existing citizenships to become a Maltese national.
In the Philippines, however, a Philippine national may lose citizenship “through various means such…
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